Meet
Heidi. She has a mom and a dad, best friends and she’s one of the faceless
masses at her suburban high school. She also has blue hair and electrical
powers. Both of these powers manifested after a day spent the Harrington Mall
but Heidi has no memory of what exactly happened there.

After hearing a news report about a maniac attacking people at the High
School dance, Heidi’s best friend, K.T., calls her from the dance and
convinces her to use her powers to “come down here, yada yada, save the
school.” K.T. also suggests Heidi (or Blue as she’s now calling her)
cobble together a costume so she can do the super-hero thing and not be
recognized.

All of this is handled in as realistic way as possible for a super-hero
story. Heidi and K.T. speak like regular teenage girls. They’ve got all the
problems and worry that come with the territory. Heidi even has the typical
crush on the popular boy in school, Jack. Heidi is idolized by her next door
neighbor, Marcus. The only interest she has in Marcus is as a chauffer—he
ends up being privy to the Blue super-hero identity because he has his own
car.

The story in these first three issues does a great job of introducing the
reader to Heidi/Blue, her friends and her life. It also sets up some nice
future plot lines with the villains Heidi meets. For some reason Heidi is not
being the only person in Harrington who has received weird powers. In fact,
the person terrorizing the school dance can transform his body into crystal
and looks an awful lot like Jack, the object of her unrequited affection.
Issue three introduces the new substitute teacher at school, Miss White, whose
alter ego can control sound. Whether she’ll be a friend or foe of Blue will
be left for future issues.

Greg Grucel did the artwork in the first two issues. His character designs
are spot-on. I especially liked Blue’s thrown together costume. He’s not
as strong on backgrounds and sometimes his figures can appear to be a little
stiff but he handles telling the story just fine. You’ve also got to love an
artist who puts Cibbo Matto and Bjork posters on the walls of Heidi’s room.

The new artist for the series, Cal Slayton, takes over with issue three and
he brings a real Archie Comics feel to the characters. The basic character
designs haven’t changed so drastically that you have to learn who everyone
is all over again though. Slayton is more adept at putting background details
in his panels than Grucel and it seemed like I got more story with his
layouts.

Shades of Blue is shaping up to be a fun new series. I like the
characters and the writers have done a good job of keeping me entertained and
involved in the storyline. If you like super-hero comics in the vein of Sidekicks
and Electric Girl, give Shades of Blue a try.

Can’t find this at your local comic shop? Write to Amp Comics, 335 North
Seymour Avenue, Mundelein, IL 60060 or visit their web site at www.ampcomics.com.